


Enemy

by Fuffywumple



Category: Terminator (Movies), Terminator Dark Fate
Genre: Blood, Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Grace’s augments work different, Implied Sexual Content, Mostly at the end, Not really but I like to be safe, Some Fluff, Still intense violence, Strong Language, Two women kiss, also for plot reasons, for plot reasons, its really cool, maybe some gore?, now with glass!, some intense violence, the final fight goes differently, tw blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:22:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22280095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fuffywumple/pseuds/Fuffywumple
Summary: In a canon-divergent plot line, Grace, Dani, and Sarah may have stopped the relentless machine hellbent on taking Dani's life. But at a terrible cost.Now, corrupted by the Rev-9, and carrying out order from Legion, Grace must do the deed of her sworn enemy: terminate Daniella Ramos.Inspired by Ctrl22’s “Sleeping With the Enemy” (linked within the fic)
Relationships: Grace Harper/Dani Ramos
Comments: 18
Kudos: 125





	1. Prologue + Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Sleeping With The Enemy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22124638) by [ctrl22](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ctrl22/pseuds/ctrl22). 



> Hey, everyone! Just a quick note that this prologue is meant to show how the final fight in the film differs for the sake of this story (I needed to change some things around to make this plot plausible.) Thanks for stopping by, and happy reading!

Prologue

Grace wasn’t sure of what was happening. Her ears were ringing, her augments were short circuiting. She couldn’t find Dani, or Sarah, or Carl. She just lay on the ground, covered in wounds and ash, looking at the Rev-9. It was pretty fucked up, but its eyes were still glowing. It wasn’t dead yet.

It recovered before she could, shedding the molten metal from the rest of its relatively unharmed body. Grace couldn’t do much. She could barely blink. But as it started to advance forward, she grabbed on to the machine’s ankle. 

Because of the state it was in, the machine tumbled to the ground with a scraping thump. The feeling of victory could barely register within Grace, though the pain and the blood. Her victory didn’t last long, however, as the machine kicked from her weak grasp, and picked itself up off the ground.

Grace thought of Dani as she tried to stand up. She thought of how Dani’s survival depended on her, she thought of the way Dani smiled when she saw Grace. She thought of how horrible it would be to see Dani die right in front of her.

First to her knees, then to her feet, Grace rose as the adrenaline forced its way through her body, causing her power source to send corresponding shocks to her augments. She was running on backup power, she didn’t have much time. Despite the pain and agony, her body was in good physical shape. Minor wounds for the most part. It was the robotics within that were starting to shut down. If they died, she would die with them.

The Rev-9 had forgotten all about her, hellbent on finding Ramos and eliminating her before it could fail. But Grace didn’t forget. She lurched forward, grabbing on to the machine's scorching endoskeleton before crying out, and peeling her melted skin from its body. The machine acted fast, having no time to waste on getting Grace out of its way.

It simply stepped forward, and drove it’s one remaining arm into Grace’s chest. Unlucky for the Rev-9, its arm slammed into her power source, causing it to electrify both of them. The pain didn’t even register in Grace, but she could still hear herself screaming as the shocks of electricity flushed through herself, and the machine. She could feel it’s computer seeping into her, she could feel it’s robot mind clinging to her. But she couldn’t stop it.

They fell on the ground, one on top of the other. And in Grace’s dying moments, her augments went haywire.

**AUGMENTS CORRUPTED**

**CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT CORRUPTED**

**MISSION OBJECTIVE CORRUPTED**

**PROCESSING…**

**PROCESSING...**

**MISSION OBJECTIVE UPDATED**

**TERMINATE DANIELLA RAMOS**

  
  


End of Prologue.

Chapter 1

It had been two weeks since Grace eliminated the Rev-9, and ultimately, herself. But Dani still couldn’t get over it. Her and Sarah had gone back to Carl’s cabin, hiding in the wilderness once again. The Rev-9 was gone, but they weren’t sure if that was truly the end.

Sarah had Dani on a tight leash. She wasn’t allowed to leave the property unsupervised, she wasn’t allowed outside after dark, she couldn’t have or use any electronics, she had to recite passwords to Sarah and vice versa twice a week. The list went on, and Dani hated Sarah for it, but deep down, she couldn’t help but think of Sarah as a mother. 

Of course, Sarah denied all sentimentality of it, claiming that it was “only to protect our future from those fucking things” and whatnot. But Dani could see through that. She could see the way Sarah looked at her sometimes, with this instinctual look of protection. 

As no-nonsense as Sarah was, Dani was rather brave. She would push as many boundaries as she could, while being careful enough to not go overboard.

So, it was no way a surprise when Dani decided to challenge Sarah over breakfast one morning. Both women knew it was coming, but neither knew what it would lead to.

“I can’t believe you made us leave Grace there.” Dani said, after spending longer than she would have liked chewing on her still freezer burnt Eggo.

Sarah didn’t take her eyes off of the two week old newspaper, “I’m not telling you this again, kid.”

“We should have taken her. Given her a proper funeral.” Dani poked at the gross food with her fork.

“Funerals are pointless. They don’t help anyone.” Sarah flipped to the next page, “we’ve been over this.”

“They help  _ me,  _ okay?” Dani said.

“Then you’re weak.”

“ _ Pendejo. _ ” Dani growled.

With careful movements, Sarah folded up her newspaper and placed it on the table beside her. She then turned to give Dani a glare, “I speak Spanish, you know?”

“I know.”

This wasn’t the first time Sarah had to deal with Dani’s childish behaviors. She knew how to keep calm and keep authority. Meanwhile, Dani lost more and more of her cool each time. With a sudden violence, she stabbed the fork into her breakfast and stood, scraping the wooden chair against the floor.

“Grace did not deserve to be left there!” She shouted, “we shouldn’t have left her body with the carcasses of those _machines._ Now people will find her. They will take her. Did you ever think of that?”

In her seat, Sarah sat very still while Dani yelled at her, unphased. She got enough tantrums from John to know how to deal with them.

“The place burnt down to smithereens. She couldn’t have been more than a husk of ash by the time anyone got there.” Sarah said.

Dani seethed. She wanted to retaliate, she wanted to strike back with  _ something. _ But she just couldn’t. She had nothing left in her. Dani hated it, but Sarah was right. And judging by the look on her face, Sarah hated being right, too.

In a fit of anger and futility, Dani knocked her plate to the ground, where it shattered into several sharp pieces on the floor. Sarah sighed, unimpressed, but she was too defeated to reprimand Dani for it. Instead, she allowed Dani to storm off, stomping up the stairs. Sarah waited until Dani slammed the bedroom door to break her stoic facade. It should scare Sarah that she could cancel out her emotions like that. But it never did.

Upstairs, Dani paced in her room. Back and forth, back and forth over the carpet floor. She dug her hands into her hair, then smoothed it over once she was done. She groaned and moaned with her pent up aggression. Her skin was crawling, she felt like she wouldn’t calm down until she walked a hundred miles. One thing was sure, she didn’t want to see Sarah’s face for a very long time. 

A small part of her knew that none of this was Sarah’s fault, but the other part  _ needed  _ someone to blame for Grace’s death. For Carl’s. For her brother’s, and her father’s, and everything else that had turned to shit in her life. She could blame the machine, but it was dead already. Killed, but at what cost? The solution to everything that had caused her pain only brought her even more pain. There was no way to win. She knew that now.

Opening her bedroom window, Dani sat on the sill with a small sketchbook and a pencil. She never had much time to draw, but she liked to try whenever she had the means. She closed her eyes, and tried to draw Grace from memory.

Like Sarah had once said, she never had any pictures of John around. Dani didn’t get to take any with Grace. ‘It’s too dangerous’ she would say. No evidence of her future self could exist in the past.

Dani knew she would be meeting Grace again, but she wasn’t sure how long it would be, and she couldn’t bear to be without her guardian for that long. Her heart already ached.

Hours later, ripped and crumpled papers covered the floor, peppered in frustrated tears. Sarah had come by to bring Dani dinner, but she ignored her. Her stomach rumbled, her mouth was dry, and her eyes stung, but she never left that windowsill. She looked out into the late afternoon as the sun began to turn the sky orange. Lucky for Dani, Sarah had left her dinner plate right outside her door. She yanked it inside, and ate the canned beans like a feral dog.

It was still too early to sleep, and Dani couldn’t bear to go back out and face Sarah, so instead she started a shower. The hot water was comforting, if only for a minute. The soap smelled of sandalwood and campfire smoke, she rubbed it on her hands and inhaled the gentle smell before cleaning herself with it. It was a nice smell, but it wasn’t Grace’s. The smell of sweat and metal will always be engraved in Dani’s mind. Nothing could ever beat the bliss it made her feel. The comfort. The love.

She tried to push it from her mind, especially when the hot water ran out, and she was on limited time to finish her shower. Once she was done, Dani dried herself off, and put on Grace’s over sized clothing, the ones that she kept. They smelled like her. There went not thinking about it.

Hair damp, Dani returned to her windowsill, watching the sun continue its descent in the Texas woods. The horizon turned right blue, washed with orange and the barest shade of pink, it made up for the rest of the sky, which was sinking into a navy blue darkness.

The breeze was becoming chilly, the air smelled like smoke and trees. Somewhere, a wind chime was clinking gently, along with the bays of a hound. Dani found it tempting to slip into the moment. She really wanted to, but something had sneaked into the yard. A person. 

They made their way to Carl’s old gun shed, and snapped the handle off with one fluid motion. Dani stared, unsure if she was seeing clearly in the darkness of dusk. There was nothing but the picked over remains in that shed. No rifles, no shotguns, maybe a pistol or two; they had taken most of the weapons out when they had gone to confront the rev-9, but Dani was sure Sarah had cleaned the rest of it out since.

Dani was wrong.

The person moved towards the house, with the shape of a gun in their hand. Dani’s heart skipped a beat for a moment, but as the person got closer, she began to recognize the shape of their silhouette.

“ _ Dios mío. _ ” Dani murmured to herself, fleeing from her post at the windowsill. She tore open the door, and rushed down the stairs two at a time. As she passed the dining room table, she snagged Grace’s hoodie from the back of a chair, and stepped over the mess she had made that morning. Sarah was too lazy to clean it, huh? However, now Sarah wasn’t anywhere to be seen, luckily for Dani.

Throwing the back door open, Dani ran out onto the deck, swinging Grace’s hoodie around her back. The figure came closer and closer, then Dani knew exactly who it was.

“Grace!” She called.

But yet, Grace didn’t stop. She didn’t flinch. She continued to advance forth, revolver in hand. Dani stepped off the deck, something in her stomach starting to turn.

“Grace?”

“Daniella Ramos.” Grace replied, her voice forged by ice. Dani stopped in her tracks.

Before she could question Grace further, the taller woman lifted her weapon, and pointed the revolver right at Dani. It caused a feeling to rip through her spine, a memory to flash. Her father aiming a pistol at her face. The flood of cold fear, which got even worse as she had to watch Grace unload a shotgun into her father. The lifetime between those two events changed everything.

Dani moved just in time for Grace to pull the trigger. She dodged the bullet for the most part, but the casing had scraped against her neck. She cried out - a sound to match the gunfire, and dropped to the ground.

She was quick to think, thanks to Sarah’s tireless training. The second Dani’s head hit the ground, she began to roll like a log, dodging the first few gunshots. The last one, however, sank into her right shoulder. Pain leaked into the rest of her body, and she stopped all movements.

Dani heard Grace’s footsteps coming closer and closer, crunching the grass with her boots. First, the gun clattered, then Dani was lifted by her throat. Feet dangling in the air, she looked down at Grace. But it wasn’t quite  _ her. _

This close, Dani could see the red glow in Grace’s pupils, and the way her face rested into a hollow, blank expression. As she struggled and gasped for air, Dani kicked at her captor with gentle movements. She didn’t want to injure Grace in her attempt for freedom.

But Grace wasn’t letting up. Her grip tightened, threatening to break Dani’s trachea. She gasped again, reaching a hand out to grip Grace’s arm.

“G… Grace…” She choked out, “please…”

Grace tilted her head to the side, almost curious, but the lifelessness in her eyes remained. No matter how much she clawed at Grace’s arm, her hair, her cheeks; the augmented soldier kept her bone breaking grip on Dani’s throat.

“This was easier than I thought.” Grace said, through the rush of blood in Dani’s ears. Her vision was becoming spotted, her face heating unbearably, her libs growing tired and heavy.

A loud noise proceeded Grace’s release on Dani’s throat. She fell to the ground, gasping and coughing. She spat a speck of blood into the grass before her wits returned to her. Looking back to where the noise came from, Sarah stood on the deck of the cabin, a pistol in hand.

Grace growled, glancing the bullet hole in her arm before turning her attention back to Sarah. 

“Get back, fucker.” Sarah warned.

Dani was still out of breath, “Sarah, no.”

Grace didn’t listen. Instead, she took another step towards Dani. 

Sarah didn’t hesitate, she fired a bullet into Grace’s right knee, causing her to topple to the ground. Despite what pain she must be in, Grace didn’t make a sound. It caused the hair on the back of Dani’s neck to point straight out.

“Stop!” Dani pulled herself to her knees, huddling over the injured Grace. She tried to assess the wounds, but she was greeted with a metallic headbutt which most likely broke her nose.

She shouted, falling back to the ground again. In a blink, Grace was on top of her, hand on her throat again. Dani tried to push her face away, to no avail.

“By the order of Legion,” Grace spoke with programmed words, “you are terminated.” 

She lifted a fist, ready to snap Dani’s trachea once and for all. And Dani let her, she dropped her head to the ground, and awaited what was to come next. She could do nothing else.

But Sarah could. With a piece of the broken plate in hand, Sarah stabbed it into where Grace’s shoulder met her neck.

Like a wild animal, Grace thrashed and grabbed at the ceramic shard in her shoulder. Blood oozed from the wound and she tried to yank it out, hands slipping on the layer of blood that formed.

“Grace!” Dani called out, trying to reach her injured soldier, but Sarah had grabbed her hoodie.

“No, please!” Dani shouted, fighting against the iron grip that was pulling her away from the woman she needed to be beside.

“Come on, kid.” Sarah said, shoving Dani towards the shitty old pickup that was parked out front. “We gotta move.”

“I’m not leaving Grace behind!”

Sarah stared at Dani for a moment, as if shocked, “That’s not Grace anymore, Dani.”

Through Dani’s tears, she couldn’t see Sarah anymore, “I don’t care! I need to see her!”

“Not gonna happen.” Sarah said, then opened the back door and shoved Dani inside. She landed on her bad shoulder, writhing in pain. Before she could recover, the truck was speeding away, and Grace became nothing but a spec on the rear-view mirror.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is definitely a filler chapter in preparation for the final showdown. I also wanted to scratch at the surface of some relationship dynamics between Dani and Sarah. The next & last chapter will certainly be the longest, so I hope this tides you over until then!

“Sarah!  _ Complacer,  _ we have to go back!”

“We don’t have to do shit.” Sarah said, while taking one hand off the wheel to fish into the glove department. Producing a first-aid kit, she tosses it into the back seat without looking. “Now shut up, and patch your wounds.”

Forget the first-aid kit. Dani pushed herself to her knees, neglecting to put on a seat belt as she moved her torso into the front of the car.

“What is the matter with you?” Dani hissed.

“Jesus, kid.” Startled, Sarah caused the truck to swerve for a brief moment. “Get back there.”

Rage began to boil in Dani, replacing the pain that had started to form now that the adrenaline had faded away. “Why should I? We need to get back to Grace.”

With a sudden jolt, Sarah slammed on the breaks. It caused Dani to lurch forward, but she clung to the two front seats, keeping herself square enough. Then, she fell into the back bench. Sarah guided the truck to the curb as it graduated to a stop, then whipped around to where Dani lay, stunned for a moment.

“For the last time, that’s not her anymore. They’ve gotten to her.” Sarah growled. 

Dani shook her head, “That’s not possible.”

“None of this shit should be possible,” Sarah said, “but yet, here we are.”

“You’re crazy.” Dani said, before using her one good arm to open the side door, and slip out of the truck.

Sarah got out before she even could, “Trust me, kid. That’s a compliment. The crazier you are, the more you fit in with  _ this  _ world.”

Dani stood in silence for a long moment, she held her still bleeding shoulder before she stood, “I’m going back.”

Sarah looked at Dani’s shoulder, “You’ll bleed out before you can get there.”

“At least I won’t just be abandoning her.”

Removing her sunglasses, Sarah rubbed her eyes, “It’s not safe around her. Let’s just get some distance, think of a plan, then go back for her.”

“And if we take too long?”

Sarah doesn’t respond. She just opens the rear door for Dani.

Fumbling with the medical kit, Dani tries to patch her own wounds by herself. Sarah had taught her how, but she had never been very good at it. She put a bandage on her neck and tried to fish the bullet in her shoulder out, but it was to no effect. She threw a bandage on, and would deal with it when they got to where they were getting to.

Sarah mumbled something about finding a place to stay while they recovered, but Dani was too tired to fret over it. Her fear was passing, and an unbelievable exhaustion swept through her. She imagined it’s how Grace felt during her crashes. She didn’t like it. Dani took an abandoned jacket from where she was in the backseat, and huddled up against the left door. That jacket didn’t serve as well of a blanket as Dani would hoped, so the ends of her exposed limbs trembled.

There was a long stretch of time where Dani walked the line between sleep and consciousness. She found herself floating in the limbo of both states, unable to fully cross to each side. She could hear the air rushing outside the car, the rumble of the engine beneath her, but she couldn’t quite process it all. She felt like a prisoner in her own body. That was, when she could feel.

But she wasn’t alone. Grace was in her limbo, too.

Dani couldn’t move. She couldn’t reach out to where Grace was standing…

When Sarah woke Dani up, it was dusk. Half of the sky was coated in an overcast that had turned into an ash grey. The rest was a deep and crystal clear blue.

Dani’s mouth tasted terrible, and her shoulder pulsated in a painful rhythm that caused her to squeeze her eyes shut.

“Here, take this.” Sarah passed back a wad of bills to Dani, “pay with it.”

Upon further inspection, Dani could see that they were parked at a shitty motel. Around them there was nothing but dirt roads and highways. She couldn’t tell how far away they were from Carl’s cabin. Or Grace.

Nodding, Dani took the wad of cash and slipped out of the truck with groggy movements. Her mind felt submerged, stuck frozen in time. Each footfall to the office coursed through her numb body, bringing little shocks back to her body.

Dani pulled the creaky office door open, using only her ambulatory arm. Inside, the paint was chipped and falling off the walls, flies were huddling to the fluorescent lights on the cracked and leaky roof. The front desk was empty, so Dani inched forward to place her hands on the cheap desk material. 

She glanced around, finding nothing but an old TV playing the news. The signal was poor, but through the fuzz, Dani could see a news report about the dam incident. Even weeks after it all went down. Her stomach twisted and she rang a little bell at the desk, antsy to get into a room and just  _ relax _ .

A door opened, and an old woman hobbled her way out to the desk. She was hunched over, white hair, and had a pair of glasses that were way too big for her face. Dani waited as the old woman made her way over.

“Can I get a room?” She blurted, before the old woman had even made it there.

The old woman was skeptical, eyeing the bandage on Dani’s neck that felt, and probably was, coated in blood. Dani’s fingers fidgeted with the wad of cash in her hands, and she felt her whole body heat up.

“How many nights?” The woman asked, typing on her decade old computer.

“One.”

The woman took her time with the computer, “How many beds?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Dani’s throat was dry. The old woman gave her a look.

“Two. Two beds.”

Satisfied, the old woman grabbed a rusty key and placed it on the counter, “Twenty-three fifty four.”

Dani smacked a twenty and a ten on the desk, grabbing the key right behind them. “Keep the change,” she said as she left. Eager to escape those prying eyes.

In the parking lot, Sarah stopped the truck, and grabbed the medkit from the back. Dani tossed her the key and followed into the room in silence. As expected, the room was filthy. Two stained beds in rotting wooden frames were thrown in the middle of a room with a ratty green carpet. The walls were lined with a tacky plastic material that was supposed to look like hardwood, but it rather looked pathetic.

The smell of rot came from the bathroom. A smell that made Dani squirm until she eventually got used to it

Neither women talked as Dani sat on the bed, and Sarah worked to pry the bullet out of her shoulder. Dani had a white rag to put in her mouth to muffle her pained cries, which eventually became covered in blood as she accidentally bit her tongue.

The bullet was crunched, definitely from being crushed against her bones. She stared at it distastefully as Sarah used a torn shirt to make a sling for Dani’s poor shoulder.

“I’m going for a shower.” Dani said to break the silence

Words were caught on the edge of Sarah’s tongue. For the first time since she was an oblivious teen, Sarah felt genuinely stumped. The gears in her mind turned as Dani walked to the bathroom door.

“Uh, Dani.” Sarah submitted, waiting as the younger woman turned to look at her.

“What is it?’ Dani said.

For a moment, Sarah was silent, as if she had decided that she didn’t want to ask, that she wanted Dani to go away and leave her to her own thoughts, but the burn in her brain pushed Sarah to ask the question. 

“Were you and Grace… you know?”

For a moment, Dani tried to understand what Sarah meant. But when it hit, her entire body burned up like a leaf in a forest fire.

“Um… well…” Dani stumbled over her own words, “yes? No? We were never really sure.”

Sarah gave a thoughtful nod, but her facial expression didn’t shift either way.

Now that it was in Dani’s mind, she couldn’t get it out. She didn’t know if she wanted to, either. With a heavy sight, she plopped down on the bed closest to the bathroom door, and looked down at her resting arm.

“There was a moment… back at Carl’s place.” She said.

Sarah didn’t respond, but she lifted her chin inquisitively.

“Grace had just gotten out of the shower.” It made Dani sore just remembering it, but she droned on, the memory still crystal clear. “Her hair was all wet. She smelled fresh and looked relaxed, but she was crying.”

Sarah sucked her teeth.

Dani went on, “At first I thought it was just leftover water from the shower, but her eyes were red, and the tears, they just kept streaming down her face. I asked her what was wrong, then she came over to me and…”

The bed creaked, and Sarah was sitting beside Dani. She placed her hand on Dani’s knee and gave it a gentle rub with her thumb. “Do you love her?”

Dani continued to stare downward when she nodded.

There was a sigh, then Sarah wrapped her arm around Dani’s shoulders and squeezed her in to an awkward side-hug. Sarah’s shoulder was too sharp, and Dani felt like she was being forcefully pulled into Sarah’s lap in the most uncomfortable way, but Dani melted into the gesture nonetheless.

“I know what it’s like to love someone, then lose them to this world.” Sarah said quietly, “and the machines.”

Dani stayed at her side, “With John, right?”

“Yes, with John.” Sarah sighed deeply, “and Kyle.”

In her shock, Dani pulled herself to face Sarah directly. Their faces were so close that Dani could smell the cigarette smoke in Sarah’s breath. By the look in her eyes, Dani could do some piecing together.

“John’s father?”

Sarah nodded, it was a sad nod, but a sharp one. The conversation was not to continue. Dani understood, and she didn’t want to pry. Getting Sarah to open up, even very little, was a monumental task, and she was happy that she had gotten this far.

Dani gave Sarah’s thigh a light pat before rising to her feet, and delivering a gentle kiss to the top of Sarah’s skull. The older woman grunted in an endearing way as she then watched Dani walk over to the bathroom.

“We’ll fix this, Dani.” Sarah said.

Dani turned to look at her one last time.

Sarah looked directly into her eyes, “I won’t let you lose Grace like I lost Kyle.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, even though it wasn't that great lol. Next chapter after more fighting and definitely more gore, I will have more romantic scenes between Dani and Grace (even some backstory scenes...) see you soon for the final showdown! I can't wait >:3


	3. Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its all or nothing now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! The last showdown! Thanks to everyone that has taken their time to read this project of mine, I really appreciate it.

The dim light of dawn had barely filtered through the curtains by the time Sarah had woken Dani from her sleep. She had been twitching and mumbling all night, according to Sarah. Neither of them question what she had been dreaming about.

Sarah had to repeat the plan to Dani, so it would stick through the sleepy fog of her mind. They go back to the cabin, the isolated area with no one around, Dani attracts Grace, and they attempt to take her down with non-lethals, and find a way to reverse what had been done to her. The non-lethal part was added by Dani, to which Sarah gave a firm, wordless nod. It wasn’t very convincing.

They left the motel as the sun broke through the horizon, and marked the now blue sky with its presence. As Dani started out the passenger window, she tried not to think about how the sky reminded her of Grace’s eyes. Gentle, and blue just like the world around her. Dani’s wounds were aching, a shrill pulse in her body which began to fade out with the rapid drum of her heartbeat.

She didn’t know if Grace would still be at the cabin when they arrived, but there was hopefulness in the back of her head. She knew Grace, and she knew that Grace would wait there for her, despite whatever was happening to her, Grace was a strong spirit, and she still had to be in there, waiting to break free of Legion’s monstrous hold,

Dani just hoped they wouldn’t be too late. That Sarah would stay true to the non-lethal agreement. Dani couldn’t go back to what it was like when Grace was gone. The misery, the pain, the  _ ache.  _ Even though she never really knew what she was aching for.

The ride back to the cabin felt like it was in slow motion. Dani’s hands shook as she pressed them against her lap, trying to keep them in place. With her eyes closed, she wished to Grace, wherever she was as a prisoner inside of her own body, that she would be okay in the end. 

When the roads became familiar, and they neared the cabin once again, Dani felt it almost impossible to stay still. She bounced her knee, scratched at the bandage on her neck, and shuffled around in her seat with the eager fear of the situation.

“Stop wiggling.” Sarah said, without turning her eyes from the road.

“I can’t help it,” Dani replied, “I’m nervous.”

“We’ll do what we can, but if we’re in too much danger, we have the firepower to take her out.”

“That is exactly what I’m nervous about.” Dani replied, voice bitter.

“Kid, I know you’re worried. I’d be  _ terrified  _ if this was happening to Kyle. But at some point, you have to know what it takes to be in this world.” Sarah said.

“Yeah, yeah.” Dani had heard the lecture a thousand times before, “no remorse, no attachments. Killing the metal motherfuckers is my only priority. Everything else is a distraction.”

“Thatta girl.” Sarah turned off the highway.

On the rough dirt terrain that led to Carl’s cabin, Dani ran her mind over the (vague resemblance of, at best) plan her and Sarah had talked up last night. Go and find Grace (hopefully) waiting at the cabin. If not there, try to somehow find her (they were hinging on Grace being there.) Upon finding her in the isolated area, approach with caution. Attempt to neutralize her in a non-lethal fashion, and dig around like maniacs until they can fix her.

Yeah… they were pretty much doomed.

It caused Dani’s stomach to churn, and her esophagus to squeeze in anticipation of vomit. Everything seemed destined to fail, but she would rather go out trying, than give up on Grace entirely.

It then came into view.

Carl’s cabin, looking a bit worse for the wear, bloomed into view as the truck turned the corner into the lot. The front door was wide open, some glass broken. Due to the lack of people around here, Dani doubted it was robbers.

Both women hesitated in the truck, which still idled. Dani felt her stomach drop like a weight while she saw Sarah’s knuckles whiten around her pistol.

“Non-lethal.” Dani reminded, unbuckling her seatbelt. “I can’t lose her again.”

Sarah’s brows furrowed, “You may already be too late.”

“We don’t know that yet.”

“Don’t let hope make you weak.” Sarah shut the truck’s engine off.

Dani opened her door, “Grace has made me stronger than ever,” she said, as she got out of the truck. She didn’t hear whatever Sarah said after that. She didn’t think she wanted to.

The wind chime on Carl’s cabin clinked together to make a sound that made Dani feel no less calm. The average noise in the very unaverage setting only made her stomach roll. Her throat squeezed. She just kept telling herself not to throw up.

She took hesitant steps up to the cabin, where the door stayed swung open. With a quick inspection of the hinges, it seemed to Dani that the door had been forcefully opened.

“Grace?” She called out with hesitance. The only reply she got was a creak of the wooden cabin. She stepped further inside. 

Everything inside was a mess. Good was pulled out of the cupboards and thrown about, broken chunks of furniture scattered about. Had Grace done this? She had no idea why, even with this new behavior from Legion, she would have no reason to trash the place.

Looking behind her out the door, Sarah stood in a patch of dirt just a few feet from the steps up to the front porch. She was waiting for some sort of signal, it looked like.

Dani took another look around before turning back to Sarah, “It looks like-”

A scorching pain in the back of her neck. Gunfire. Dani fell, cheek scraping the floor below her. Everything was moving so fast, it took Dani a moment to realize Grace was pulling her deeper into the cabin by her ankle. As she was dragged across the floor, sliding along broken shards of glass and wooden splinters.

Sarah was shouting and following behind them, a few gunshots filled the room as she got closer. Dani writhed and struggled, scratching as Grace’s strong hands around her ankle.

“Lemme go! Lemme go!” Dani kicked and shouted, adrenaline running wild as she looked into the familiar face twisted into an aggressive enemy. Dani watched as a pulled pierced Grace’s forearm, near the place it had the day before. The newly healed skin was broken again.

“Non-lethal, Sarah!” Dani called, kicking at Grace’s chest to no avail.

“My bad.” Sarah calls out sarcastically, “what other plan do you have?”

Grace took Dani’s throat in her hand, and slammed the smaller girl on the kitchen counter.

“I knew you’d be back.” Grace said, grabbing a knife from the counter.

Dani kicked at Grace’s crotch, “Sarah!”

The older woman reacted with enough time, taking a steak knife and jabbing it into Grace’s arm, right on top of the bullet wound. The crazed Grace shouted, a loud noise void of emotion, and stepped back from Dani.

“I never liked you, metal bitch.” Sarah growled, aiming her gun square at Grace’s face. But Grace had the advantage of speed. She lunged at Sarah, shoving her into the wall. The impact knocked Sarah out cold.

Scrambling, Dani shot away from the counter before Grace could turn her attention back to her prey. She ran for the sliding glass doors that led to the backyard. As she got closer, Dani realized that the plate she had knocked over yesterday morning was still on the ground, almost untouched. There was one large shard of ceramic plate missing.

Dani hesitated too long. She slammed into the door, turning around to see Grace right before her. Grace grabbed her by the shirt, then slammed Dani through the glass door.

She landed out on the deck, surrounded in glass and small slices all across her skin, torn through her clothes. Dani gasps and groans for breath, momentarily distracted from the imminent threat before her. It’s almost too late by the time Grace lunged for her. Dani used her foot to kick Grace’s stomach, which caused the predatory woman to stumble back, thrown off.

“Grace! Think about this!” Dani crawled to her feet, hands and knees stinging from the glass. Grace recovered even faster, slamming herself into Dani. The two women rolled out into the yard, stumbling and hitting and fighting for control and freedom.

Dani was pinned down, slammed into the ground by Grace, and strangled at the neck with hard hands and nimble fingers. She kicked and fought and  _ kicked,  _ but it was useless. Grace had her in yet another choke hold.

“You’re… you’re hurting me…” Dani choked out.

Grace snarled, and pushed harder. Dani’s vision was starting to go white.

Reaching up to Grace’s face, Dani stroked her cheek, instead of scratching like an animal. Her aggression was gone, her desperation for survival was gone. All she could do was look into the corrupted eyes of someone she loved, and pretended they were what they used to be.

“I… I love you…” Dani irked out, running her thumb over Grace’s cheek.

A voice snapped through Dani’s head, “Kid! Move!”

Dani acted through her adrenaline, jerking herself to the side as fast as possible. Above her, Sarah slammed a cinder block against Grace’s head. The corrupted soldier slumped to the ground, unconscious.

“ _ Dios mio. _ ” Dani gasped, kneeling over the crumpled body of Grace. She pressed her ear to the woman’s back. She could hear a heartbeat.

Looking up at an exhausted Sarah, Dani couldn’t help but feel infuriated. 

“You could have  _ killed  _ her!” Dani shouted.

“Well,” Sarah shook her head, “she was about to kill you. I think it was a fair trade.”

Dani coughed, then spit on the ground beside her. Meanwhile Sarah stretched out her shoulder, the cinder block must have been really heavy for her.

“Alright, let’s go.” Sarah said, “let’s get her in the house.”

****

Neither woman knew what they were doing, but they figured it would be best to do  _ something _ before Grace woke up again. With a bottle of whiskey and various knives and tools from the medkit, they cut Grace’s back open. Sarah admitted she wasn’t a doctor, but she had to deal with many wounds in her years as a fugitive hunting killing machines, so it was their best bet to let her do the poking around.

The whole thing was bloodier than Dani would have liked, but by the end, Sarah had sliced out what looked like a memory chip implanted in Grace’s spinal cord. It looked corrupted, flashing a dim red light in a pattern that Sarah knew as Morse Code, but it was too fast for her to understand what it meant.

After the older woman taught Dani how to stitch up a wound using Grace as their test subject, Dani sat by the bed and waited for her to wake up. The injury to her skull no doubt dented her endoskeleton, and probably cracked her human skull along with it, but neither of them were brain surgeons, so they figured they wouldn’t try in that domain.

It was long past sunset by the time Grace began to stir, and even longer before she opened her eyes. Dani was flooded with relief, throwing herself on Grave before thinking of how it could hurt Grace. Her low moan was a good sign.

“Dani…?” Grace croaked out, her toned muscles flexing with each small movement. Dani could feel everything shift underneath the augmented woman’s skin.

“ _ Si. Si Querdia. _ ” Dani responded, placing kisses on Grace’s forehead before she knew what she was saying.

Grace shifted her face into Dani’s shoulder, “Oh, you’re okay.” Her words were mumbled in Dani’s shirt.

“I’m okay. We’re okay.” Dani hugged Grace in as tight as she could relief washing over her.

“I couldn’t… I couldn’t control myself anymore…” Grace said, her voice wobbling.

“We took it out, Grace. You’re free.”

“How did you know what it was?” Grace looked up at Dani, her eyes shining.

Dani couldn’t help but chuckle, “We didn’t.”

Grace shook with laughter as well, sinking back into Dani. Each movement she made was followed by a twitch or a gasp of breath.

“Rest, Grace.” Dani soothed, helping Grace lay back in a comfortable position. The taller woman groaned, and writhed on the bed, only making the pain worse.

Dani placed a kiss to Grace’s forehead. As she began to pull herself away, Grace’s hands reached up to grab Dani’s face, and pulled her back in. Their lips pressed together, and Dani froze for a moment. It didn’t take her long to melt into Grace’s rhythm, though. She lost herself in the warmth and movement of the blonde’s lips. Everything about it just felt so right. More than anything else ever had.

When they broke apart, and Dani gasped in as much air as she had been missing.

“I’ll never get used to that.” Grace said.

“We’ve…” Dani pondered it, “before?”

Grace gave a little chuckle, “Behind closed doors, you and I…” She licked her lips, “we were extraordinary.”

Dani’s heart seemed to skip a beat, but then it pumped warmth into her system. There was a connection, a touch, a power between them. In a way, Dani knew that’s what she wanted. She knew that’s how she had come to feel about her protector. Carefully, Dani placed her head on Grace’s chest.

“Tell me what we’re like in the future.” Dani said, listening to Grace’s heartbeat.

Grace’s breathing quickened, just a little bit, before she spoke, “We were in love. Around others we kept up the appearance of a soldier and commander, nothing more. But alone, in your bunk, after the sun left the sky… nothing could beat our nights together. 

It was us, together, raw. Nothing but ourselves and our skin and the soundproofed walls.”

Dani ached. Her heart, her head, her guts. It sounded like a dream, like a perfect world where only she existed with Grace and nothing else mattered.

“Oh, Grace…” Dani looked up.

They were pulled together again, lips locking in a heated but gentle embrace that made Dani feel weak. She wanted to spend all night getting used to the feeling of Grace’s lips. To memorize how they moved and how they felt.

“Hmph, good.” Sarah’s sarcastic voice forced a separation between them, “you’re getting comfortable.

Grace gave a huff of annoyance, and rested her head back on the pillow, “Nice to see you, too.”

“Figure you’re back to normal?” Sarah stepped inside, “or whatever  _ your  _ version of normal is.”

Grace nodded, “Think so.”

“Well, I’m keeping an eye on you, nonetheless.” Sarah shuffled over to the desk at the other end of the room, and sat on it, fishing for cigarettes.

“Wouldn’t expect any different.” Grace mumbled.

Sarah put a cigarette in her mouth, “And if I see something I don’t like. I put you down.”

“I’d like to see you try it.” Grace replied.

Dani placed her head on Grace’s chest, curling into her heat as she listened to Grace and Sarah banter back and forth, continuing their testosterone measuring contest. She chuckled into Grace’s rib cage as Grace scoffed at a particularly crude comment.

At the end of the day, they were a team once again. Legion had tried to tear them apart, but they wouldn’t fold, they wouldn’t give up that easy. Because they had one another, and that’s all they needed. Legion could come at them with all it had but Dani knew, with Grace and Sarah by her side, the metal motherfuckers didn’t have a chance. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaaaand CUT! I guess that's all she wrote. Our three women can rise above any obstacle! Thanks again for those who are reading this. It took a lot of time and effort, but it was really fun to write a story like this. I'm not really sure what else to say, so I hope everyone enjoyed it.
> 
> Until next time.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! I'm already working on chapter two, and it should be up in a week or so. See you then!


End file.
